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Post by Paul Margrave on Jan 20, 2009 13:32:38 GMT
Hello
This forum had evolved out a session that was convened at D&D4 on Integrating Community Theatre into Mainstream Theatre: Should we do it? If so, how?
We ended up discussing several issues around the current state (and future) of community theatre. Please have a look at the session report for more details.
This is a place where that conversation can continue and we can share ideas, thoughts and rants.
Cheers
Paul.
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Jonathan Petherbridge
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Post by Jonathan Petherbridge on Jan 21, 2009 8:49:20 GMT
Emma and I chatted after the discussion had finished about the possiblity of holding a D&D session just on this topic. This was partly because we both moved from the community session to the session on who we should try to attract to D&D 5 and she saw the link.
To throw a log on the fire...
The subsidised arts are accessed by a small sliver of the community. A smaller sliver of that sliver, get involved in theatre, a smaller fraction of those become theatre makers - many passing through the ancient and testing rites of a training of some sort. After passing various other filters and beauty contests a small fraction of those attend D&D - where they meet other members of their endangered and beautiful species to talk in strange tongues about subjects that they are very very very passionate about.
Of course all that could be said about architects or marine biologists. Trouble is, theatre is made of people. Their stories, shapes, noises and wrinkles. Unlike other disciplines the health of our artform is linked to the diversity of those who is engage with it.
Wonder if D&D might be the place where we talk about how theatre builds and broadnes it's constituency. And where we might start to see the wider community as "the origin rather than the object of action". (quote stolen from Michael Holden - Democratisting Culture, and he stole it from someone else who's name eludes me).
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Post by Paul Margrave on Feb 11, 2009 9:07:20 GMT
Hi Jonathan
I would be very interested to talk about this at a D&D-style session. I couldn't make the event at Shunt last week, but could we try to organise something for the next event?
Paul
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Post by Stephen Sillett on Mar 5, 2009 11:10:37 GMT
Valuable conversation which can help my approach to community and contemporary theatre, and I broadly agree with your comments. However, I think it helps to probe some "given facts" in the conversation especially the definition of *community participation, exclusion from the process and **diversity aiding the "health" of the art-form.
This is not a cut and dry thing.
* community performers getting engaged in creating a performance, is not the same as audience members interacting with a performance created by others, to community members being part of a wider audience that is given the space to discuss ideas in public spaces around a performance. I just returned from Theatre du Soleil and their performers are selected and highly trained, but there is room for audience involvement during the ritual of the actual event. (In contrast I engage in theatre of the oppressed which has a different approach. I am also at looking at integrating community arts into my work to enable more cultural dialogue to occur.)
** What is meant exactly by diversity aiding the health of the art-form? I often think what is actually needed is more deeper engagement with specific communities that care on specific issues; diversity of participants is not necessarily the main factor to optimise. I would also argue that greater community impact can occur with performances of average theatrical art-form, by some peoples measure.
I am not trying to digress the discussion, but rather narrow it down a bit.
Enjoyed the D&D 4 by the way.
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